Italian Tennis Icon Nicola Pietrangeli Passes Away at 92
The tennis champion is one of only three Italian men to claim a major singles title.
Italian sport says goodbye to a genuine pioneer: Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open champion, left us at ninety-two.
The player made history by emerging as the first Italian to win a Grand Slam singles title, achieving his maiden triumph at the French Open in 1959 and retaining the prestigious trophy the following year.
With a staggering 48 career titles, Pietrangeli was long held to be the nation's finest player until the emergence of current star and four-times major winner Jannik Sinner.
"Italian tennis is grieving an icon. Nicola Pietrangeli, the only Italian honored in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, has died," stated the national federation.
Beyond his two French Open triumphs, Pietrangeli also reached the final in Paris in the years 1961 and 1964.
He holds a remarkable 164 matches played for Italy in the prestigious team competition, securing victories in 120 of them, and led his country to its inaugural title in 1976.
Officials of the Italian Open, an event where he was a double winner, said: "We are profoundly saddened that we bid farewell to Nicola Pietrangeli, a veritable legend of Italian tennis..."
